Judaic Sites / Italy


Today's guests include Natalia Indrimi, Director of the Primo Levi Center in New York, George Sacredote, President of Sacredote & Co.,Inc., Rabbi Dr. Umberto Piperno, author and consultant to the Italian Kosher network of restaurants in the U.S. including San Domenico in New York, Gabe Goldstein, Associate Director of Yeshiva University Museum and others who will talk about the significance of Jewish Art, Tradition and Customs by virtue of the many historic sites you'll find in Italy on your next trip there. This is a learning experience you'll not want to miss.







Guests

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Gabriel Goldstein, Associate Director for Exhibitions and Programs
Yeshiva University Museum


Gabriel Goldstein is the Associate Director for Exhibitions and Programs at Yeshiva University Museum, where he has worked since 1989. He was previously employed at the Jewish Museum, New York and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. A specialist in Jewish Art and Material Culture, Gabe holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in History, Art History and Judaism from the University of Toronto, studied for two years at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Jerusalem, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Decorative Arts, Design and Culture at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City.

Gabe also serves as the current Chair of the Council of American Jewish Museums and as Adjunct Curator of Judaica at the North Carolina Museum of Art. He is a member of the Advisory Committee for the American Association of Museums Nazi-era Provenance Internet Portal and on the Board of the Foundation for Jewish Culture. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Art History at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women and as Board Chair of the Beit Rabban Day School.

Gabe and his wife Victoria Bengualid are very active in their synagogue community at Congregation Shearith Israel–The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, and are the parents of four children.

Gabe has specific experience and expertise on Italian Jewish history and art; he was a National Endowment for the Humanities-supported Research Associate for the 1989 Jewish Museum (New York) exhibition "Gardens and Ghettos: The Art of Jewish Life in Italy" and was curator of the 1996 Yeshiva University Museum (New York) exhibition "Ebrei Piemontesi: The Jews of Piedmont"; he was a contributor to the catalogues prepared for both of these exhibitions.






Rabbi Umberto Piperno, Author and Consultant
Italian Kosher Network of U.S. Restaurants


I received my first Semicha from Elio Toaff, the chief rabbi of Rome, at the Italian Rabbinical College in 1983, when I was 22 years old. At the same time I received a Ph.D in Political Sciences at the University of Rome. I wrote about Abarbanel and the roots of the democratic system in the Republic of Venice. For thirteen years I was the coordinator of the yeshiva, and taught several rabbis in Italy. For the next ten years (1996-2006) I served as the chief rabbi in Triest, where I enhanced the Jewish life of the community, and promoted kashrut, and interfaith relationships. I also taught Jewish Law and Jewish Political thought at the University of Triest.

I began studying to become a lawyer as well, doctor utriusque iuris, to fulfill my father z"l’s, dream for me. I was inspired to come to YU, where Torah and secular studies serve together as ‘Or ha’amim, a light for the people. I found it intriguing to interact with students of different cultures; I am awed to sit every day in the beit hamidrash in front of the g’dolei hador. I am challenged to try to understand the foreignYiddish dialect, and the Brisker interpretation of the Gemara, while basking in the presence of the Sephardic horaah of Rabbi Ben Haim.

During my years in RIETS, my family and I integrated into the wonderful community of Riverdale. We are affiliated with SAR Academy and its high School, and the Sephardic Minyan at the HIR. After becoming parts of this community, it is very hard to leave.

Right now, my primary goal is the fulfillment of my children’s Jewish studies. It is also my aim to inspire, model and teach the Italian tradition and lifestyle to American Jewry.